Call Me Professor

My blog has been quiet for a few weeks as I have been adjusting to my new part-time position as Adjunct Professor at a private liberal arts college in New Jersey. I've had so much fun coming up with lesson plans and lectures for my course, Introduction to Psychology. This was one of my very favorite classes as a psyc major, so being able to teach it myself is quite special. And I'm not gonna lie to you, after spending the last six years in college, being called "Professor" is unexpectedly cool.

A photo of me teaching¹

I feel very fortunate to have a job that I enjoy—especially after the Summer of Unemployment (hereinafter referred to as the "Darkness"). While I'm still trying to find another part-time job to pay the bills, I'm much more optimistic than I was before.

I realize that real life has gotten in the way of my blogging, and while I'm not terribly distressed about that I do find myself missing this little creative outlet. In the coming days and weeks I will try to find time to post here more often.

You can expect more of the odd and interesting diversions that I stumble upon and reshare, the occasional life update, and even a recipe or two (I've been busy in the kitchen lately, so stay tuned). I'll probably create posts that reflect my adventures as a naive psychology professor, too.

And on that note, I'll leave you with a brief but fascinating demonstration.

The Bouba/Kiki Effect

Consider the following shapes:

Tell me, which of these shapes is named bouba and which one is kiki?

Odds are you're one the of 98% who identify the curvy figure on the right as bouba and the pointy figure on the left as kiki. This demonstrates a strange effect first discovered in 1929 by psychologist Wolfgang Köhler. As it turns out, regardless of culture or native language, just about everyone identifies these two figures the same way.

The Bouba/Kiki Effect illustrates how the human brain can extract abstract properties from simple phonetic sounds that are otherwise meaningless. Many believe this ability is vital to the development of language, symbolic thought, and ultimately consciousness, which are the very qualities which seem to separate humans from other species.

You can read more about bouba and kiki at Wikipedia.

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¹Not of photo of me teaching. This is actually a photo of me teaching.^2
2Honestly? I probably look more like this when I teach.